by Jim Walsh - Sept. 19, 2012 09:36 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
For more than 80 years, no one was a more devoted Chicago Cubs fan than Bob Beck, a fixture at Mesa's Fitch Park and Hohokam Stadium for the team's spring training and at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
But even eight decades of following the team wasn't long enough for Beck, who died Thursday at 91. In that time, Beck never got to see his beloved Cubs win a World Series -- their last title was in 1908, 13 years before Beck was born.
Beck remained a mainstay at Fitch, where the Cubs practice in early spring training, and at Hohokam, where they will play Cactus League games for one more season, even though in recent years, he could see only shadows through years of macular degeneration.
"I feel bad for him, that he didn't get to see them go to the World Series," said Linda Beck Olson, Beck's daughter and owner of the iconic chain of Chicago textbook stores founded by her father.
"If they ever get to the World Series, the whole family would represent him," Beck Olson said. "He is one of many."
Jim Hendry, the Cubs' former general manager, said he always wanted to assemble a championship team for Beck and other dedicated fans.
"That did hit me. It was about people like Bob; you wanted to win for them," he said. "A lot of people are fans, and loyal fans, but Bob took it to a different level."
Scott Nelson, director of baseball operations for the Cubs, said he was proud to be Beck's friend for decades.
"He was just part of the family,'' Nelson said.
Even though the team didn't win a World Series during Beck's lifetime, "I know it still filled his life with a lot of joy.''
A Chicago native, Beck grew up near Wrigley Field, where he often sneaked into games. He even got busted for ditching school by going to a ballgame when he was 8. His mother heard a radio announcer describe a boy walking along a fence and realized it was her son.
Beck never was a dreamer, however, refusing to allow his passion for the Cubs to cloud his sense of reality.
Every year, Beck and his friends would come to Fitch for the first day of early spring-training drills and assess the team's chances.
Beck would use his sense of humor as a defense mechanism to deal with all the disappointments he'd experienced following the Cubs, but he also witnessed many of their finest moments. They included Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin'," a twilight shot that helped clinch the 1938 pennant. He also witnessed Ernie Banks hitting his 500th home run.
Beck would sit in the front row at Hohokam Stadium, peering through binoculars that were never strong enough.
Beck Olson said her father had macular degeneration for at least 20 years and had been a winter resident of Mesa for at least 30 years.
"It sounds corny, but the crack of the bat means more to me now," Beck told a reporter with The Arizona Republic during an interview for a Cactus League story in 2000.
Beck enjoyed his game-day conversations with old friends and the atmosphere of the ballpark, even though he also had lost much of his hearing.
Bud Page, former head of the Mesa Hohokams, a civic organization that sponsors the Cubs every spring, said Beck was a Hohokam for 28 years.
Beck and his wife, Nadine, bought a condominium within walking distance of Fitch Park decades ago and became winter residents so they could spend more time with their Cubs.
"Bob Beck was an ambassador of the Hohokams," Page said.
Beck helped them keep a good relationship with the team and worked behind the scenes to keep them training in Mesa.
"He always knew the management, he always knew the coaches, he always knew the general manager" Page said.
Beck would wear his Hohokams uniform to the annual Cubs Convention in January and help the Mesa delegation encourage fans to come to Arizona for Cactus League games, according to Page.
"He thought it was very important to be a Hohokam. He was so proud," Beck Olson said.
Beck will be remembered Sept. 29 at a party in Chicago at Bernie's Tap and Grill, a favorite hangout across the street from Wrigley Field, where his friends will enjoy free hot dogs and beer.
Beck Olson said her father was still talking about the Cubs on his deathbed at Chicago Northwestern Memorial Hospital, remembering their crushing loss to the San Diego Padres, 3 games to 2, in the 1984 National League Championship Series.
"He was kind of delirious. He was remembering the 1984 series. He said, "We only have one more game to win,' " Beck Olson said.
20 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2012/09/17/20120917bob-beck-cubs-spring-training-games-dies-91.html
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